6 Secrets to Ace Restaurant Safety Inspections
You may have wondered how restaurants can ensure their food is safe for consumption. To ensure public safety, regular inspections of restaurants are required. Each restaurant must go through these health inspections.
India has a central regulatory body, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, which functions under the Food Safety and Standard Act (2006). It is responsible for setting safety standards and conducting health inspections.
Tips to pass the restaurant health inspection successfully
An audit is conducted as the first inspection. It is then followed by physical inspections of the restaurant’s premises. Auditing ensures food safety standards are met during food preparation and procurement. The restaurant inspection is where food inspectors inspect the kitchen and dining area. Before performing an inspection, restaurateurs should be familiar with the FSSAI’s food licensing and registration guidelines. Let’s look at the different ways that restaurateurs can pass health inspection.
You can train your employees
Training your employees is essential before they are subject to food inspection. You should teach your employees how to behave, and encourage them to rectify any errors before the inspector enters the restaurant. Make sure to teach them the rules and regulations that will be used during a food inspection. Restaurant staff must be able to follow safety and hygiene standards in front of the inspector. This directly affects their score.
Restaurants are required to adhere to the FSSAI COVID-19 guidelines since last year. Restaurants can be shut down if they don’t follow these guidelines. No restaurateur would like this. It is important that staff follow sanitation guidelines to ensure that they are able to inspect the restaurant.
Ensure Proper Food Storage
The shelves and places where food is stored must be clean and well-maintained to avoid contamination. Pre-cooked and cooked food should be kept higher than raw food. Make sure food products are properly wrapped so they don’t spill on the shelves. It is essential to ensure food storage spaces are dry and pest-free. At all costs, avoid leakages
Detergents and chemicals should be kept in their own areas, and not together with the raw materials. It is important to practice proper stock rotation so that the quality and value of raw materials doesn’t deteriorate over time.
Pest Control
Pests can infest your entire inventory and cause havoc. It is essential to do pest control quickly so that they don’t get in through any channels. You should inspect walls and doors for pest nesting places and entry points.
For pest control, poisonous chemicals should not be used. You don’t want to poison your materials and inventory. Instead, you should use glue traps as a reliable pest management method. A licensed pest control service is available to help you if the pest problem is too difficult.
Waste Management
Restaurants generate a lot waste each day. This includes the peeling of groceries and the food that customers throw away. Neglecting to manage waste can result in bacterial and fungal infections for staff members as well as guests. To pass the restaurant inspection, it is important to have proper waste management.
You must ensure that garbage chutes where garbage is disposed of are clear and not blocked. Both biodegradable as well as non-biodegradable trash should be separated. Solid and liquid waste should also be separated daily. You should ensure that your garbage bins do not overflow and are regularly cleaned.
Bathrooms must be kept clean
It is vital to ensure that the cleanliness of bathrooms is maintained as this is an important source for contamination. For both guests and staff, washrooms and rest rooms should be cleaned regularly. They should be equipped with basic sanitary products such as toilet paper and a garbage receptacle.
Conduct self-inspection
You should conduct surprise self inspections to prepare your employees for official restaurant safety inspections. You can correct any mistakes made during the self-inspection and prepare yourself for future inspections. It is important to follow the same steps as food inspectors for self-inspection. All areas should be inspected.